Report - Polish Resettlement Camp, Checkendon & RAF Woodcote Remnants July 2021

[mookster]

Had a day out ticking off and checking out some local-ish stuff, these were a couple of them.

The Polish Resettlement Act 1947 was the first ever mass immigration legislation of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It offered British citizenship to over 200,000 displaced Polish troops on British soil who had fought against Nazi Germany and opposed the Soviet takeover of their homeland. The act also supplied a labour force to the demands of war-torn Britain.

The Polish contribution to World War II was outstanding, and directly led to the Polish Resettlement Act 1947 and the formation of the Polish British community as it exists today.

In advance of the war, the Polish Cypher Bureau broke the early version of the Enigma machine and gave their knowledge to the British, forming the basis for British cryptographic breakthroughs that produced the Ultra intelligence that was a key factor in many Allied successes during the war.

The majority of Poles came to the United Kingdom to help the Allied war effort after the Nazi-Soviet Pact led to the occupation of Poland in 1939. By 1940, with the fall of France, the Polish President, Prime Minister and the Polish government in exile transferred to London, along with a first wave of at least 20,000 soldiers and airmen. Thousands more followed throughout the war.

Poles formed the fourth-largest Allied armed force in Europe after the Soviets, the Americans and the combined troops of the British Empire. Poles were the largest group of non-British personnel in the RAF during the Battle of Britain. Special Operations Executive had a large section of covert, elite Polish troops and close cooperation with the Polish resistance. The Polish Army under British high command participated in the Battle of Monte Cassino, the Battle of the Falaise Gap, the Battle of Arnhem, the Siege of Tobruk and the liberation of many European cities including Bologna and Breda.

By July 1945, 228,000 troops of the Polish Armed Forces in the West were serving under the high command of the British Army. Many of these men and women were originally from the Kresy region of eastern Poland including cities such as Lwów and Wilno. They had been deported from Kresy to the Soviet gulags when the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany occupied Poland in 1939 in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Pact. When two years later Churchill and Stalin formed an alliance against Hitler, the Kresy Poles were released from the Gulags in Siberia, formed the Anders Army and marched to Persia to create the II Corps (Poland) under British high command.

The camp at Checkendon remained in use until the 1960s when it closed. A lot of the site has since been demolished, some of the huts have been incorporated into a sawmill, and some are used as storage.

It's an interesting place to go if passing through but I wouldn't make a big trip for it. Also a hello to the couple we met whilst checking out the chapel if you're reading this, small world indeed.

A short hop away bordering the A4074 past Woodcote sits a couple of peculiar structures in the woods next to the road. I spotted these a while back and wanted to investigate them but never had a chance. After a bit of a Google I found they were remnants of the former RAF Woodcote, which was a base operational from 1941 to 1959 mainly as a maintenance unit and equipment depot. After 1959 most of the structures were demolished and lost in a woodland, with mounds of what looks suspiciously like rubble dotted all over, covered by years of undergrowth. A short while back the last Nissen huts were demolished although these were only skeletal remains at best, leaving these as what I think are the only surviving visible structures. I initially thought they were underground bomb shelters on first look passing by on the road, however they don't actually lead anywhere - and after a little more Googling found out they are what are known as 'slit trenches', presumably for some form of base defence or shelter, but open ended and without any underground areas.

Thanks for looking

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[Bikin Glynn]

Really quite nice that

 

[Silentexplorers]

Great Post & Brilliant pictures! Was lovely to meet you guys. We had a feeling we would run into someone there today. Very small world indeed. Hope you guys had a great day

 

[Mikeymutt]

I really love that nissen hut converted into a chapel. Can honestly say I have never seen that before.

 

[HughieD]

Nicely done there @mookster

 

[Calamity Jane]

Nice this, some nice remnants around. Those trenches are great. Brill photos are per. :

 

[mookster]

Great Post & Brilliant pictures! Was lovely to meet you guys. We had a feeling we would run into someone there today. Very small world indeed. Hope you guys had a great day

Ahh so it was you guys! I was trying to think who posts on here from around this area and drew a blank...funny old world this hah.

 

[Silentexplorers]

Ahh so it was you guys! I was trying to think who posts on here from around this area and drew a blank...funny old world this hah.

Did you manage to find the cells ?

 

[Bikin Glynn]

Strange looking at that but this week I will be drawing steelwork to fit in a old Nissen hut thats being converted into house! I do occasionally get involved with some interesting projects

 

[Ordnance]

The slit trenches are a from of open topped air raid shelter to protect from machine gun fire and shrapnel, but not much use against a direct hit, but none of the small shelters were anyway.

 

[Bikin Glynn]

The slit trenches are a from of open topped air raid shelter to protect from machine gun fire and shrapnel, but not much use against a direct hit, but none of the small shelters were anyway.

yeah they are pretty common at most raf sites, there is a load at Grafton though they are hard to see in summer